WikiLeaks website blocked behind Chinese firewall
China, one of the biggest Internet policers, took no chances with the latest online sensation and blocked the WikiLeaks website Wednesday amid potentially embarrassing claims made in leaked U.S. diplomatic memos posted there.
Attempts to access wikileaks.org and cablegate.wikileaks.org were met with a notice saying the connection had been reset, or diverted the user to popular Chinese search engine Baidu. That’s the standard response when the connection to an overseas-based website has been cut.
The U.S. Embassy memos — called cables, though they are mostly encrypted electronic communication — contain some frank talk about and attributed to Chinese figures and their North Korean allies.
In one, a Chinese diplomat is quoted describing North Korea as a “spoiled child” for attempting to win U.S. attention with a provocative missile test.